Snow Breaks RBI Record Leading Danes to a 2-0 Sweep of Maine

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ALBANY, N.Y.—The University at Albany Softball team swept the Main Black Bears in both games of a doubleheader this afternoon claiming the series (2-0, 6-5). Due to oncoming weather, Saturday's game on May 5th has been cancelled and will not be rescheduled. With today's wins this puts UAlbany on a five-game win streak heading to conference championships next week. The Great Danes now have an overall record of 23-15 and an America East record of 8-7.

“Celeste really stepped up for us today when we needed her. She threw a great game against a good hitting Maine team and set the tone for the day. The defense was much better today and made some really good plays when we needed them. It was nice to finish out the regular season with two well played games. We have definitely had our share of growing pains this year but this is the type of softball that I know we are capable of,” said head coach Chris Cannata.

In game one of the doubleheader, Elizabeth Snow rewrote UAlbany history once again hitting her 166th RBI in her career. She passed former teammate, a 2016 senior, Maggie Cocks' record of 165.

GAME 1 (2-0)

In the first game, America East Pitcher of the Week Celeste Verdolivo took her spot on the mound. Starting off the first inning offensively, Kelly Spear whipped her bat around with a triple down the right field line. Then, Elizabeth Snow broke her third UAlbany career record of the season with an RBI single to left field. Next, sophomore Sarah Petzold struck a double to right center which scored Snow. At the end of the first inning the Great Danes led 2-0.

Celeste Verdolivo went six innings without allowing more than four Black Bear batters to be seen at the plate in a single inning. Verdolivo pitched a complete game striking out four batters while allowing only two hits.

The Great Danes scored early and did a great job defensively fending off Maine. The Black Bear's senior pitcher, Erin Bogdanovich had a notable performance striking out a total of 12 UAlbany batters.

GAME 2 (6-5)

With Bailey Turner on the mound, game two started off scoreless until the bottom of the third inning. The Great Dane senior Kayla Bailey started the bats off with a single to second base. Next up, Aliyah Wade forced a throwing error by Maine's shortstop allowing Bailey to score to put the Danes up 1-0.

The Danes took a 3-0 lead in the bottom of the fourth from a huge hit from McKenzie Bump. Sarah Petzold was placed on first base from a walk then Bump smacked the ball out of the park for a two-run home run.

Maine finally was able to put runs on the board for the first time this afternoon in the top of the fifth inning. The Black Bears countered with a single and a home run to tighten the score 3-2.

UAlbany was not settled in the seventh looking to seal the win. First, Caitlin Cooper landed her spot on first base from a walk. Then Kayla Bailey joined Cooper forcing an error by the first baseman. Finally Liz Snow came to the rescue swang for the fences adding three more RBIs to her career total to send the Danes 6-2 over Maine.Looking for a comeback Maine countered with three hits and three runs in the bottom of the seventh. UAlbany was on their toes looking for the last out to end the inning. With two runners sitting on base, Kelly Spear made the last out to end the game 6-5 in favor of the Great Danes.

Next week UAlbany will head to the America East Conference Championship beginning on Wednesday, May 10th in Vestal, N.Y.